China to clean up virtual currencies

China’s central bank said it would clean up various sorts of virtual currencies in 2018 in its latest effort to step up financial supervision. Last September, Chinese authorities including the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) ordered a ban on initial coin offerings, in which technology start-ups issue their own digital coins to investors to access funds, and shut down all virtual currency exchanges in the country.

The tough measures led to a sharp decline in virtual currency transaction volumes in China, according to Financial News, a publication run by the PBOC, the central bank.

The central bank will step up reform and innovation and continue to steadily carry forward the central bank’s research and development of digital currency. The PBOC will tighten supervision and strengthen quality management and control, according to an online statement released on Thursday.